SIGNS OF A SLUGGISH ECONOMY

November proved to be less than a time of thanksgiving for 41,293 workers who received pink slips last month.

The cutbacks were 45 percent higher than the 28,490 announced a year earlier, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm .

And although November marks the start of what's normally the year's most lucrative shopping season, retailing accounted for 15 percent of the month's total, with the targeted elimination of 6,143 jobs. So far in 1995, retailers have announced 35,494 cuts.

The telecommunications field is also being hit hard, with 2,600 layoffs announced in November and a year-to-date total of 32,212. This figure could go up sharply in 1996 if enough AT&T Corp.'s employees don't accept a recent buyout offer.

Although layoffs through November are 21 percent lower from the same period in 1994, these latest figures suggest a resurgence of the heavy downsizing of 1993 and 1994, according to Challenger.

Almost 3 million layoffs have been announced since 1989, the firm said. Of course, jobs are always being created.

Since 1989, the U.S. economy has added a net 9.9 million jobs, lifting total employment to a record 117 million adults in October. In Illinois, job growth also has been strong. Employment in the state is up 120,000 from last year, to more than 5.8 million.

National and state figures for November will be released Friday.

Still, Challenger is predicting that layoff announcements in the 1995 fourth quarter will surpass both the third quarter, when 89,718 people were told they were out of work, and the fourth quarter of 1994, with 98,370 cuts.

"Every time we think this whole phenomenon (of layoffs) is ebbing, it gets a new life," said Robert Dederick, consulting economist for Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.

While workers lose their jobs, however, investors marvel at the continuing climb of the stock market, where stock prices partially reflect the increased profits of companies cutting labor costs.

Likewise, top executives whose compensation is tied to profitability through stock options and profit-related bonuses reap the benefits of the cost-cutting climate.

Dederick said. "Management's pay has become tied up with the stock market's performance. So this is a pressure that has galvanized (executives) to cut their costs."

Some economists, however, point out that labor cuts can become counterproductive.

"I am becoming more and more convinced that some of these companies are going too far," said John Challenger, the firm's executive vice president. "They keep making these major cuts, with no strong evidence of long-term benefits."